Friendsgiving Dinner Ideas

What is Friendsgiving?

Friendsgiving. Catchy name, right? Well, what exactly is a Friendsgiving? A Friendsgiving dinner is simply a dinner with your friends on or around Thanksgiving Day. The dinner can be as elaborate or as simple as you want it and is centered around being thankful for what I like to call “the family you choose“. Thanksgiving is typically a family-centered holiday, but sometimes we can’t be with our families on that specific day or perhaps you just want to spread the holiday out just a little more. I mean, bingeing on delicious food with people you love – who wouldn’t want more of that? Well, we fell in lovewith this whole Friendsgiving idea and we have created for you a free set of customizable printables to help you plan, organize and successfully host your very own hit Friendsgiving dinner party!

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I have participated in a Friendsgiving dinner twice and both were so much fun! The first time, my friend Holly invited me to a Thanksgiving Soup Swap Party at her home that she called Friendsgiving. She invited several of our co-workers and had a potluck-style Thanksgiving feast as friends a few days before the actual Thanksgiving day. It was the first time that I had heard of this concept and loved it. Many of the women that came practiced a recipe they wanted to try later with their families and it was fun to be with friends and share delicious food.

The second Friendsgiving was different. This last Thanksgiving we had recently moved and didn’t have family nearby for a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner. We combined with our friends the Allens and enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving Dinner together in our own Friendsgiving on Thanksgiving day. It was nice to know that even if we couldn’t be with family, we had friends to share the day with.

Customizable Friendsgiving Printables

Whether you are interested in hosting an additional dinner party with friends or if your Thanksgiving day will be shared with friends rather than family, Friendsgiving is a fun idea that you will love! We have great Friendsgiving Ideas and 6 gorgeous customizable printables designed by our very own Carisa from Messes to Memories including:

Invitations(editable)

Friendsgiving Organizer (editable)

Menu (editable)

Utensil Holder (editable)

This or That Game

Take Home Gift Tag

Personalized Friendsgiving Invitations

The Friendsgiving invitation that we have made for you not only has beautiful, fun designs but you can customize it with your own information. After downloading the .pdf Friendsgiving file, you can edit the files using a free Adobe program. That means no more handwritten-have-to-start-over-because-I-messed-up-problems (you know what I mean?) AND the OCD in me can be at peace that everything looks neat and orderly.

You can personalize the invitation with all of your information to include the date, time and location of your event. There is even a place for you to put additional notes such as RSVP or to make food assignments if you want to go the potluck route. And here is a little tip for you: After you fill in all of your information, you could easily take a screenshot of the page and then email or text it to your friends. No printing or delivering required! Cute, informative and so convenient! Your friends will be so impressed with you.

Friendsgiving Organizer

To get everything organized for your Friendsgiving dinner event, we have this handy-dandy printable organizer that can also be edited on the computer. It has a place for you to type up your invited guests and to organize what food will be served. If you are going to do a potluck style and want to make assignments, you will definitely want this to keep track of who is bringing what. We would hate to have too many salads and not enough pie.

Friendsgiving Menu

Once you have your menu all settled, you can create these fancy menu cards. They can add a nice touch at each place setting. The menu is also customizable with your specific menu items (seeing a pattern?). A menu is one of those special touches that will make your Friendsgiving dinner memorable.

Personalized Utensil Holder for Friendsgiving

Probably my favorite thing included in the .pdf are these personalized utensil holders. I am a firm believer that a good party is in the details. I just love this personal touch to each place setting. It is so easy to do and will add that special touch to your Friendsgiving.

This or That Friendsgiving Game

Included in the .pdf download is an easy game for you to play either at the dinner table or as a break before you bring out the pie. It is a great conversation game and helps you get to know your guests even more. We call this Friendsgiving game “This OR That”. The idea of the game is to read one of the game cards out loud and everyone shares their preference. So, Black Friday shopping or Cyber Monday deal finding? Which would you choose? Cook the meal or clean it up? What do you think your friends would say? You could even add a fun twist where you try to guess how each person will answer. What a fun way to see how well you know your friends!

Bonus Take Home Gift Tag

As a little bonus, we included some take-home gift tags to let your friends know they are the sweetest. You could prepare a special gift for them or you can easily just tape the note to the top of the leftovers you send them home with. Either way, you are letting your friends know that you are thankful for them.

Additional Friendsgiving Ideas

We have a few other ideas that I totally recommend for your dinner that come straight from our site. Check these out!

Thanksgiving Conversation Starters – Get the conversation focused on the meaning of Thanksgiving with these unique Thanksgiving conversation starters! When your friends are gathered at the dinner table on Thanksgiving day, use these questions to get everyone talking.

Thanksgiving Charades – A fun twist to a classic game. All of the words to act out are related to Thanksgiving. This is a fun and easy game to play with friends.

Gratitude Thanksgiving Signs – Large engineer print posts where everyone can write their blessings on a poster for all to see! This could be really fun to have at the entrance as an activity for when your friends first arrive.

Leftover Bags – Our printable Thanksgiving leftover bag tags are the perfect addition to those to-go bags and boxes and are a fantastic way to add a little flair to all the leftovers that you will be sending home with your friends.

We hope you have a fantastic Thanksgiving season however you decided to celebrate! When you host your Friendsgiving, make sure to take lots of pictures and tag us on social media! Use the hashtag #datingdivas so we can see all the fun you have!

Friendsgiving Dinner

Printables Designed by Carisa @ Messes to Memories Exclusively for The Dating Divas

If you love hosting dinner parties, we have a few other ideas for you! You can always host a traditional Potluck Dinner and we have fun printables to make it happen! We also have my personal favorite dinner that I have hosted: an Around the World Progressive Dinner where each different house is a differently themed country (recipes and invites included!) Or, hosting a Soup Swap is always a fun and easy way to gather with friends over food!

More from my site

I met my Prince Charming when I was 15 years old and 12 years later we created our own happily ever after. Together we enjoy traveling the world, and, of course, going on creative dates! I am a former theatre teacher who now stays at home with a handsome baby boy. I love dancing, photography & chocolate!